Accomodation in Yosemite

My wife and I are travelling from Las Vegas to San Francisco via Death Valley and Yosemite Nationa Park. We will be in the area of Yosemite around 7th - 11th September, but haven%26#39;t planned a specific route. Will it be easy enough to get decent accomodation around these dates without booking?

Accomodation in Yosemite

I would think that accommodation actually in the Park has been fully booked for some time but I guess there could be cancellations. I am sure others can explain the options and ways to check out availability.

We stayed in the small town of Groveland some 40 minutes west of the Park entrance on highway 120. There are two excellent old fashioned hotels (The Groveland %26amp; The Charlotte) that offer fine dining, a couple of tucked away B%26amp;B%26#39;s and some campgrounds.

Accomodation in Yosemite

For those dates the online reservation system for the park shows lodging at Wawona which is near the south entrance and Curry Village tent cabins. You can check here:

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You can also check Yosemite View which is close to the West entrance along the Merced River and close in to the valley. You can ceheck availability here:

www.nationalparkreservations.com/yosemite.htm

You can also check with the Yosemite Lodge at teh Falls to see if there are any cancelleation that you can get a room there. Perfectly located near Yosemite Falls right in the valley.

You should not ecpect to drive through and get accomodations when you get there. They are typically booked up to a year in advance.

Try www.yosemite.com Besides links to accomodations in the park but out of valley ie: Yosemite West( Condos, Cabins and the Yosemite Peregrine Bed and Breakfast and Falcon%26#39;s Nest next door) off 41 on the way to Glacier Point (must see) and Wawona and Mariposa Grove, you will find a few places at El Portal on 140 but quite close to the valley.

Any place you find, check out reviews on the hotels section of this trip advisor, especially if you might think of staying at Curry Village in Yosemite.... now what to expect as you will see from candid reviews.

I suggest you stop on the first night at Mammoth Lakes, June Lake or Lee Vining. If you get up before dawn and drive to Minaret Vista on the way to Red%26#39;s Meadow just beyond Mammoth Mountain Inn, you will catch sunrise over the Sierra Crest, and, if, by chance, a storm has passed through the day you come in, there may be dramatic blazing lenticular clouds that fill the sky over the Owens Valley after a storm clears, at this time of the year.

Then get up the next morning to really enjoy the wonderful drive over Tioga Pass on 120. Stop at Tioga Pass Resort just a mile or so outside the park for coffee or breakfast. www.tiogapassresort.com Then linger as you drive through Tuolumne Meadows. Park by the road and take the traila croos the meadows to the river and Soda Springs so you can look south to get vistas of the Cathedral Range which you miss from the road. If time take ahike up Lembert Dome. Stop by the Visitor%26#39;s Center in TM . If they still carry aslim volume called Meadow In the Sky by Elizabet O%26#39;Neill it will give you a great perspective on the colorful history of the Tioga Road which takes you to the valley.

Look at the park website www.nps.gov/yose/home.htm and find In Yosemite Today and open the link to Yosemite Today online eight page newspaper that is full of useful information . See if there are any activities in TM that would interest you on the day you drive through.

This cooler mountain part of the park is where you want to spend much of the day along 120. Stop at the picnic place at the east end of Tenaya Lake and also at Olmstead Point a mile or so west after climbing to leave the lake. There is a little trail down some stone steps into the woods and in a couple of minutes you are at a big granite dome you can scramble up for marvelous panoramas that lots of people miss.

I would suggest you also stop on your first day at the Interagency Visitor Center south of Lone Pine where the Death Valley Road 136 joins 395....clean toilets, grand view of Mt Whitney, great books etc and very helpful locals who know all about the Eastern Sierra. If you see a small book here called California the Beautiful by Galen Rowell, buy it. It is quite the best photographic souvenir of California and the Sierra. Further north stop at Mountain Light Gallery in Bishop. If you look at www.mountainlight.com now, you will know why! A great tradition in Bishop is to pick up Danish pastries for breakfast on the road the next day at Schatts Bakery across from the park as you drive down Main Street.

If you want a special experience, have dinner at the grand old Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite Valley. If you dine early when the dining room opens and have booked ahead and asked for the Honeymoon Table you will enjoy the view outside, too, while it is still daylight. 209 372 1489. All my family and friends from the UK believe this is a highlight of an already once in a lifetime trip!

All great advice up here- but as you can see, the main point is don%26#39;t try to do this without booking your accomodationks ahead of time!

Thanks for the info, it was extremely helpfull to us. We have now managed to find lodgings outside of the park and are now only looking for an overnight stay in or near Death Valley on our way to Yosemite to make sosur holiday complete.

Thanks for all you valuable advice and as a result, we are travelling from Las Vegas and are now booked in for one night at Lone Pine and then carry on to the Cedar Lodge just outside Yosemite for a further 4 nights, then on to San Francisco. Can anyone suggest the best route to travel so that we get to see as many o the best bits as possible between Las Vegas and San Francisco. Thanks in anticipation!

Well, done! There is even a Schatts Bakery, I think, in Lone Pine! My long ago best pal from grammar school in Lincs just stayed at Cedar Lodge and was quite satisfied, though they ate most meals in the park as choice is limited in El Portal.

I am sure Macjack and others will give you more info: on the route to San Francisco. You have got the basics, now, to get you to Yosemite from my other post. Stack up the memories! With four days in the Valley, you can afford to really take your time along 395 and 120 in the High Country along the Tioga Road. It is the journey as much as the destination. Stock up on film!!

Thanks Juday, if your friend lives in Lincs in England, then that%26#39;s not far from us here in Yorkshire. Hope you%26#39;re right about the Schatts bakery in Lone Pine as it keeps getting a mention and I%26#39;m very fond of pastries of all kinds. If there%26#39;s any more tips, keep them coming! Thanks again.

Hi Johnnym - if you have yet to sort your route you might like to know that we have just returned from a similar trip but went from Las vegas to Williams (to see the Grand Canyon) and then from Williams to Barstow en route to Santa Monica (Travelodge) (LA) before going up the PCH 1 to San Francisco. We stopped en route at Paso Robles (Holiday Inn Express) before going via Golroy (Outlet shopping) to San Francisco (101). Its a long stretch to Yosemite (4-5hrs with your foot down) along the 120 and we then stayed one night (Stovepipe Wells) in Death Valley before back to Vegas.

Hope it helps. If you need more detail let me know.

Widley - what was your opinion of Stovepipe Wells? It has some pretty scathing reviews under the hotels section of trip Advisor Foum here.

Thanks.